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Chapter 2
“I want a love where I fall in love at first sight and only look at one person until the day I die.”
A young lady had once said that shyly during a tea party.
At the time, Ariel had smiled faintly and thought she was incredibly innocent.
A fated love where two people looked only at each other until death sounded like something that existed only in fairy tales.
Yet, making that smile seem foolish, Ariel met Kylance as if it were fate.
It was during a hunting competition held two years ago.
Kylance Seyard.
The man surrounded by the most rumors in the Empire.
He was the only nephew of the current Emperor, who had ascended the throne through a bloody purge, and he was famous as the Empire’s youngest and most unfortunate Grand Duke.
After the tragic carriage accident that killed the previous Grand Duke and his wife, he inherited the title at only fifteen years old, before he had even come of age.
At the time, people thought the same thing.
Although his cousin aunt, Duchess Viastes, had become his guardian, Kylance was still too young to govern the vast northern territory.
Many believed he would fail to protect the North.
Some did not even bother hiding their ambitions and openly coveted northern lands.
However, not a single person who challenged the North survived.
He was unbelievably strong and cold-headed for someone so young.
Strong enough to remind people of the Emperor during the height of his glory.
Under Kylance’s rule, the borders near the Monster Mountain Range became even more secure.
The moment he came of age, he brutally annihilated the army of Grint, a traitor who had seized control of the Empire’s frontier, and firmly established his reputation throughout the Empire.
The new master of the North.
A genius swordsman.
The Demon of the Battlefield.
A merciless cold-blooded man.
Some praised the achievements Kylance had accumulated at such a young age.
Others feared him.
His abilities were simply too overwhelming.
Humans instinctively fear those who are vastly stronger than themselves.
Furthermore, Kylance rarely appeared in the capital and was only seen in the North or on battlefields.
As a result, the rumors surrounding him grew even larger, making him seem like a figure straight out of a legend.
Naturally, Ariel had heard countless stories about him while growing up.
Sometimes she wondered what kind of person he truly was beneath all those titles.
Then time passed.
And the moment she met him for the first time by chance, Ariel realized that all those titles surrounding him were meaningless.
“Releasing prey in a hunting ground is an insult to His Majesty, who organized this hunting competition. However… I suppose letting one little creature go wouldn’t matter.”
“I didn’t see anything, my lady.”
He was strong enough to cut down a massive beast with a single strike.
But he was not cruel enough to take the life of a small and helpless creature.
“If you keep walking on that ankle, you’ll become permanently injured. So take my hand.”
Despite his rough and blunt tone, the hand he offered to her injured self was warm.
He was not the terrifying Grand Duke of the North.
He was simply someone who was bad at expressing himself.
In fact, he was a man carrying many wounds.
As if guided by fate, Ariel fell for him.
And eventually, they fell in love.
For a little over a year afterward, they—or rather, Ariel—were truly happy.
The closer she became to him, the more different he seemed from the cold and distant man she had first met.
He approached her without hesitation.
He whispered words of love.
Always gently.
Always warmly.
“Ariel, I love you.”
“My life changed after meeting you. You’re my savior.”
“This is the first time my days in the North have felt so long. There wasn’t a single day when I didn’t think about you. I wondered what you were doing, whether you were well, whether that count’s daughter who bothers you had picked a fight with you again. I wanted to know every little thing about you.”
“Even when I’m looking at you, I still miss you. I think I’ve completely lost my mind because of you.”
Ariel helplessly fell deeper and deeper under that kindness.
Believing it would last forever.
“Ariel. Until the moment I draw my last breath, I will look only at you. Will you promise to spend the rest of your life with me?”
She believed those words.
And so they promised to marry.
People said theirs was the kind of destined love found only in fairy tales.
Not once had Ariel doubted those words.
Not even now.
Not even at this moment, when everything was crumbling apart.
“Fate…”
But now she didn’t know anymore.
Was it really fate?
If you and I were truly destined for each other…
Then perhaps it wasn’t fate at all.
Perhaps it was a cursed fate.
Had she realized that far too late?
Was that why everything had ended up like this?
Wiping away the tears that kept falling, Ariel let out a trembling breath.
Crying like a child would change nothing.
And there was something else she had to endure besides Kylance.
Her father’s death.
Just as Ariel took another shaky breath, trying to accept the unbearable reality—
The carriage stopped.
“My lady, we’ve arrived.”
The carriage door opened.
Ariel slowly stepped outside.
Above the roof of the grand mansion, black flags fluttered in the wind.
Flags announcing the death of the family head.
The servants of the Marquess household, dressed in black mourning clothes, bowed their heads toward her.
Gathering strength into her trembling body, Ariel slowly walked toward the cemetery behind the estate where the family’s ancestors were buried.
She could hear a priest reciting prayers for the dead.
With every step she took toward her father, breathing became harder.
She wanted to deny the reality awaiting her.
She wished this were all a dream.
Barely resisting the urge to collapse, Ariel finally stopped in front of her father’s coffin.
The priest reading the prayers hesitated.
She could feel everyone’s eyes turning toward her.
But Ariel only looked at her father.
Inside the large coffin, he lay peacefully with his eyes closed.
“Father…”
She called out to him in a suppressed voice.
I’m here.
The daughter you always said you loved most has come.
Then why…
Why won’t you look at me?
Why won’t you hold me in your arms?
Why…
Why are you lying there like this?
All the words choked by her grief poured out silently within her heart.
“Father…”
She called out once more with all her strength.
But there was no answer.
Her father remained there with his eyes closed.
His pale face would never awaken again.
She would never again see his loving gaze.
Never again hear his gentle voice.
He was truly gone.
Ariel could no longer deny reality.
The terrible silence brought by death stabbed into her heart like a dagger.
At last, she collapsed against the coffin.
“Ah… Father… I’m sorry. I came too late. I couldn’t protect you… Hic… I’m sorry…”
Ariel’s desperate cries echoed throughout the funeral grounds.
Her aunt wrapped her arms around the sobbing girl.
And amid Ariel’s anguished screams, the coffin of Marquess Yulis Blante was laid to rest.
It was an unusually modest funeral.
For the funeral of the head of the prestigious Blante Marquess family, there were hardly any mourners.
Only a few relatives from branch families had attended.
“I still can’t believe it… But they say the evidence of treason was undeniable. The day after meeting His Majesty, he took his own life… Everyone says your father could no longer hide his crimes and chose death first. Sob…”
Her aunt had broken down in tears before she could finish speaking.
“But Ariel, isn’t His Grace the Grand Duke coming?”
Trying to comfort her aunt, Ariel’s cousin asked about Kylance.
Completely drained of strength, Ariel merely shook her head.
She was certain Kylance would not come.
In the first place, he had tried to stop even her from attending the funeral.
The moment rumors emerged that her father was involved in treason, Kylance had probably already abandoned him in his heart.
When he decided to be cold, he was like a blade.
He never gave second chances.
“They said seeing the evidence yourself would make you understand…”
Ariel still couldn’t believe her father had committed treason.
Yet every circumstance pointed to his guilt.
Even her aunt and cousin did not claim he had been falsely accused.
They only said the evidence was overwhelming.
Then had her father truly…
“No… That can’t be…”
Ariel could not hide her confusion.
If it truly wasn’t her father…
Then where had all that evidence come from?
Who had framed him?
Her father was not a man with many enemies.
He had spent his life helping others.
The more she thought about it, the deeper the mystery became.
“Father… What exactly happened to you…?”
Staring at his grave, Ariel murmured softly.
Someone might think she had gone mad.
But she was alone here now, so it didn’t matter.
She gently touched the gravestone engraved with her father’s name.
The cold stone against her palm gradually cleared the chaos in her mind.
Only one thing truly mattered.
“…Father would never commit treason.”
Yes.
That was the most important thing.
Therefore, she would uncover the truth.
Why had her father become a traitor?
What had happened to him?
She would find out no matter what.
With her own hands.
Without fail.
Just as Ariel rose before the grave, her heart filled with determination—
Her aunt suddenly came running into the family cemetery.
